If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Consider using [spoiler] tags or give some other kind of warning if you talk about recent actions in TV series or new movies in the entertainment forum (or elsewhere)

HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

A Ruthless Bill Maher Returns with Plenty of Ire for Tea-Baggers, Republicans, and Obama Alike

by Patrick Gavin

They once said, if you lose Walter Cronkite, you lose the nation.
But what happens if you lose Bill Maher?

Bill Maher says that the upcoming season of his show will continue to hold the administration accountable. (Photo courtesy of HBO)

The liberal comedian has surprised friends and foes alike by adding President Barack Obama to his list of usual targets, such as conservatives and the religious right.

"He's just a president and like any president you have to hold their feet to the fire," Maher tells POLITICO.

Maher, who initially praised Obama, changed his tune last season on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," his hour-long political show. He knocked Obama for not standing "up for the 70 percent of Americans who aren't crazy."

"This is not what I voted for" he said, after Obama had failed to meet Maher's expectations on health care and climate change. "What he needs in his personality is a little George Bush. ... What we need to do is to marry the good ideas that Barack Obama has with a little bit of that Bush attitude and certitude."

He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I don't know if this administration has really caught up to the idea that Americans are a lot more liberal, perhaps, than we think they are." He even compared Obama to Lindsay Lohan: "[W]e see your name in the paper a lot, but we're kind of wondering when you're actually going to do something."

Maher returns for his eighth season of "Real Time" on Feb. 19. And the question is, will Maher continue to sour on Obama? You can count on it.

"I used to get booed for it and now everyone seems to be marching to that beat," Maher told POLITICO, adding that he's noticed at stand-up shows that his loyal liberal fans have started to appreciate his outspokenness against Obama. "In one way, it's kind of progress, the fact that he's been in office a year and the novelty has worn off. He's not the first black president anymore that the left wing feels a need to coddle."

"I'd like to see results," said Maher. "I still don't see him completely backing what a lot of us would like him to back, with the full force of his office."

Obama's difficulties with health care reform in Congress remain a sore spot for Maher. "I don't know why he doesn't just demand that the House pass the Senate bill, and then tweak it in reconciliation and tell Glenn Beck to shove his tea bag up his a**. Could he do that?"

In fact, Maher thinks Obama needs to stop worrying about Republican support entirely. "I've been trying to tell the president over and over again about the right wing: They're just not that into you. He's the wrong party, the wrong age, the wrong color and no matter how much he reaches out, they're just never going to vote for him."

As for the upcoming season of "Real Time," he expects to pay plenty of attention to newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

"This Scott Brown looks to me like he's going to be a real a**hole," says Maher. "Anybody who could win an election with the slogan, 'I drive a truck,' just really bothers me. ... 'Mr. 41' also bothers me that he signs '41' on all his autographs because he's so proud that he can block votes on things that the majority of Americans want. He's a regular Gandhi - if Gandhi took off his diaper and posed for Cosmo."

And, as for the 2012 election, Maher isn't convinced that a second Obama term is assured. "Anytime you have unemployment over 10 percent, I think there's an excellent chance you won't be reelected," he says. "And if none of his signature legislative goals get accomplished - health care, cap and trade, banking reform - if none of these things really get done, he's going to look very ineffectual."

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

I really thought he'd have more to say about the Arizona shooting and Palin, but I guess enough has been said already.
This week's show was great, but I enjoyed his cranky rant on The Tonight Show this week much more. There wasn't a lot of ranting on Real Time last night.

That's fine though. Martin Short was hilarious, as usual. James Carville is always a delight and I love hearing what Elizabeth Warren has to say about the economy.

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

It was a Good Show...James was dressed down and I don't know If I like that shirt...Bill was moving Fast with all the topics..he really needs to be on the air 5 nights a week...I don't think HBO can afford that...

Republican strategist Mike Murphy is one Sexy "Daddy"...I always thought he was an attractive Dude but I liked him even more dressed-down...

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

^ Yay! I luv me some Maher. He's so funny.

From Ep 220, July 15, 2011:

New Rule: Now that the social network, Google+, has arrived expressly to try and destroy Facebook and Twitter, the way Facebook and Twitter blew away MySpace, right after MySpace obliterated Friendster...the Internet must admit that it really doesn't understand the concept of friendship.

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

I'm not sure if he said it on last night's show but someone on another site posted that Maher said to Glen Rice (who apparently banged Sarah Palin back in the day), "Glen, if you are going to fuck someone's brains out, could you put them back in?"

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

Glad to see Bill back but with is Ms Lately gonna be doing. I assume she will be there to crack a few jokes and tell her fans, as always, to vote for Obama lol This should be fun. I wish he would do a 2hr show

He got that thickness, the kind that make you get up makin' biscuits with breakfast, so gone - Jill Scott - So Gone

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

Thank God.

Bill Maher + my boyfriend + Shark Tank on a Friday night... what more could I ask for?

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.'' - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Re: HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher RETURNS Friday!!

It amazes me is that back-in-the-day Dennis Miller had a successful Gig on HBO...They gave him 3 nights a week and carried him for years....Bill has been a great success for HBO and after 10yrs he's still doing 1hr a week...

Maybe Bill prefers to have it that way, I'm not sure...The Dream job is to work 1hr a week and still make millions so he's probably not sweating it....But I'd like to see his show advance to Mon, Wed & Fri nights...